De Beers gets U.S. representative

September 19, 2006byRob Bates

In a sign of De Beers is feeling more confident in its dealings with the United States, the company is getting its first-ever American representative.

While De Beers’ has long promoted its products through ad agency J. Walter Thompson, and De Beers LV (billed as a separate company) has two stores in New York and Los Angeles, this marks the first American representative for the De Beers Group in the company’s 100-plus year history.

A De Beers internal statement said the position will be “non-commercial,” which means it will not be involved with De Beers U.S. advertising, or talking with sightholders.

Heading the office will be Rosalind Kainyah, currently DTC executive director of corporate communications in London. Her goals will include outreach to the U.S. government, as well as “civil society and academia on De Beers’ social investment programs in Africa, with particular emphasis on HIV/AIDS,” De Beers said in a statement.

Kainyah, raised in Ghana, joined the DTC in 2002 as legal counsel for corporate and commercial affairs. In July 2004 she was appointed executive director of DTC corporate communications. Prior to joining the DTC she was a corporate lawyer for a London law firm and environmental lawyer for Anglo American, which owns 45% of De Beers.